Okay, lady– after you talked to me like a child and made me pinky-swear that I wouldn’t be late dropping off our son tomorrow morning, I was absolutely seething in the car.  I hate you.

In our little “talk” at pick-up today, you admitted that you are not a parent.    Even if you hadn’t told me, it would have been very evident.  I am in fact wondering why you are teaching a spring break camp for kids when you clearly don’t “get” parents and their needs.  Perhaps you don’t realize that it is the parents who are the real customers, not the kids?   We are the ones who foot the bill for activities, and fit them into our busy schedules.   And while I would not have minded you jokingly reminding me that the class starts at 10 AM, talking down to me (in small words, always my favorite)  and then asking me to pinky-swear was beyond the pale.

You have no idea that this month has been a crazy one for us.  You don’t know that I had a kid home sick yesterday, and another one who had two days of camp canceled this week because there weren’t enough kids registered for it.  That I spent all day Monday cooking (starting before 6 AM) for a St. Patty’s Day celebration.  That we had friends arrive that night who stayed with us and I made a big dinner for them last night.  That I’m still recovering from hosting a French intern for two weeks; having a stranger in your home for that long (even when they are nice and polite) can be tough, particularly when communication is challenging (she spoke limited English and I speak almost no French).

I try to always respect a service provider’s time.  I make sure that I pick up our kids promptly, as I know it is unfair to expect someone to stay late.   But this week the kids are on vacation, and we’ve had visitors, and I cannot make it a priority to get my kids at the exact start time of camp.   If one of the kids arrives 10-15 minutes late to a holiday activity, I figure it is no big deal.  I have three different drop-off times and three different pick-up times this week, and if we spend a few extra minutes at breakfast, I don’t feel like I need to apologize for it.  We have so many “real” deadlines and time commitments that I need to keep that I am not willing to add your drop-off time to that list.

I’m looking forward to that feedback form that is always distributed at the end of the class.  I think you need to hear a parent’s view on start times and how you need to be more flexible.  And Manly Guy offered gleefully to drop T off tomorrow; he can’t wait to make a snarky remark about a pinky-swear.